Monsieur Jean is a French-Belgian comic book series jointly written and illustrated by Philippe Dupuy and Charles Berberian. The title character is a thirtysomething, middle-class, somewhat indecisive Parisian writer. The series follows various episodes of his daily life, but gradually develops into an evolving story arc.
The other characters are Monsieur Jean's circle of friends, a squabbling and sometimes annoying bunch, and Cathy, an ex-gilfriend who eventually becomes the mother of his child.
Contains examples of:
- Acid Reflux Nightmare: Pizza-induced indigestion causes Monsieur Jean to have one.
- Aesop Amnesia: Félix always seems to undergo some Character Development, but always reverts to his carefree ways.
- Babies Make Everything Better: Averted with two of Monsieur Jean's friends, whose couple falls apart in spite of baby twins being born. Played straight with Monsieur Jean himself, who finds emotional maturity and romantic stability in fatherhood.
- Cerebus Syndrome: A typical example. The early stories are short self-contained comedy arcs verging on slapstick, the later ones are drawn-out narrative arcs about serious issues (though humor is not abandoned altogether).
- Character Development: A shallow, self-centered and resolutely single man at first, Monsieur Jean gains in maturity and becomes a father.
-
Completely Different Title: The series is marketed in English-speaking countries as Get a Life. - Contemplate Our Navels: Jean has a tendency to do this. It somehow annoys Cathy.
- Emo Teen: Eugene goes by a "we're all going to die" phase.
- First Girl Wins: Cathy was Monsieur Jean's first steady girlfriend. They broke up and made up ten years later, at which point they figured out they really were made for each other.
- A Friend in Need: Félix needs a place to stay and Monsieur Jean allows him to crash in his flat. Months later, he's still there.
- "Friends" Rent Control: Justified; it's revealed that Monsieur Jean can afford his reasonably spacious flat because his landlady is a rich woman who hasn't bothered to revise the rent upwards in decades.
- Gay Paree: Monsieur Jean and his friends are all quintessentially Parisian.
- Is That Cute Kid Yours?: Happens repeatedly to Monsieur Jean while he takes care of Eugène on Félix's behalf.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Clément often acts like a somewhat pompous Deadpan Snarker, especially towards Félix, but he's aknowledged by Jean as a good friend who ultimately offers Félix a job
- No Name Given: The title character is simply known to his friends as Jean, and to everyone else as Monsieur Jean.
- Not Allowed to Grow Up: Averted. First seen as a baby, Eugène grows into a pre-teen as years go by.
- Parental Substitute: Monsieur Jean becomes the unofficial surrogate father of Eugène, Félix's adopted son.
- The Slacker: Félix.
- Slice of Life: Most stories revolve around Jean's and his friend day to day lives.
- Wave of Babies: A nightmare that Monsieur Jean has.
- Wise Beyond Their Years: in the latest stories Eugene shows more emotionnal maturity than Félix, his adoptive father. Somehow subverted in that he uses it to manipulate Félix for more kid-like goals (avoiding schoolwork, playing videogames and eating nothing but tiramisu...)
- With Friends Like These...: Monsieur Jean often wonders why he's still friends with Félix.Félix: Admit it! How many times have you wanted to strangle me?
Monsieur Jean: Once. And then another time for the heck of it.
